3 Remarkable Growth Stocks That Could Lead the Market Recovery in the Second Half of 2022

Thus far, 2022 has been a tough one for investors. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite have fallen into bear market territory, giving this year the dubious distinction of having the market's worst first half in more than half a century. 

The indiscriminate selling has hit both good stocks and bad, with many market darlings falling on hard times, resulting in double-digit declines. On the bright side, however, this presents investors with the rare opportunity to buy remarkable growth stocks at a significant discount.

Let's look at three stocks that could lead the market rebound in the back half of 2022.

The database of the future -- and the future is now

Long gone are the days when information could fit neatly in the rows and columns of legacy databases. These days, data is messy and includes photos, social media posts, video and audio clips, and even full documents, requiring a revolutionary solution to store, organize, and analyze this eclectic mix of information. Enter MongoDB (MDB -2.41%). The company's cloud-centric database was built to address the needs of modern data while providing the robust search capability of its predecessors.

For the fiscal 2023 first quarter (ended April 30), MongoDB's revenue grew 57% year over year, accelerating from 56% in the fourth quarter. The company's flagship product -- Atlas -- continues to shine, as revenue grew 85%. Atlas now accounts for 58% of MongoDB's total revenue while surpassing $1 billion in ARR. It's worth noting that while MongoDB isn't yet profitable, the company consistently generates strong operating and free cash flow, which suggests that its losses are the result of non-cash items, including depreciation.

The company continues to attract new converts, as its total customer base grew 31% year over year, while Atlas users increased 33%. More importantly, customers generating ARR of $100,000 or more jumped 30%, highlighting a stable and growing foundation that will feed its future results. 

In spite of its impressive results, MongoDB's stock has fallen on hard times, down 56% off its November high -- but here's the thing: Data will only get messier from here, and MongoDB's state-of-the-art solution should help the company lead the recovery.

The next generation of television

Not many disrupters could boast that they took on Amazon and won, but that's exactly the case with Roku (ROKU -3.05%). The company's namesake streaming device surpassed Amazon's Fire TV user base in 2020 and never looked back. This was helped along by the Roku OS, its connected-TV operating system, used by a growing number of television manufacturers.

With more than 10,000 streaming channels on its service-agnostic platform, Roku has attracted more than 61 million viewing households, which watched 20.9 billion hours of streaming video in the first quarter. This fuels the revenue the company receives from the digital advertising shown on its platform, of which Roku gets a cool 30% cut. This represents a large and growing opportunity for Roku as streaming accounts for 45% of all television viewing but only 18% of advertising budgets. As the shift of marketing dollars continues to accelerate, Roku is well positioned to benefit. 

On the back of difficult pandemic-related comps, Roku's revenue growth has slowed, up just 22% year over year -- but that's on top of 79% growth in the prior-year quarter. As comps normalize in the second half of the year, a clearer picture will emerge. The company's average revenue per user (ARPU) provides some clarity, climbing 34% year over year, which suggests that growth is ongoing. 

Supply chain disruptions and inflation have temporarily crimped Roku's profit, erecting a wall of worry regarding its near-term prospects and driving Roku's stock down 83% off its recent high. But the secular shift to streaming video will only gain steam from here, and any hint of a recovery will send Roku stock off to the races.

Identifying issues before they become critical

Fueled by the digital transformation, more companies than ever before rely on web traffic, data centers, and cloud computing. While these technologies are a key component of business growth these days, downtime can be costly. Datadog's (DDOG -3.94%) software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform monitors critical systems, notifying the user of a problem that could result in downtime. Further, it provides feedback and analytics that diagnose the issue to keep it from recurring.

Even as some businesses are experiencing slowing growth, Datadog has bucked that trend with first-quarter revenue that accelerated, up 83% year over year. And, unlike many early-stage companies, Datadog is profitable while also generating strong operating and free cash flow. 

The company's growing client base fueled the results, as its total customer count of 19,800 grew 30% year over year, while those generating annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $100,000 or more surged 60%. Finally, its dollar-based net retention rate topped 130% for the 19th consecutive quarter.

Did I mention that in spite of its stellar growth, the stock has lost more than half its value? Given its remarkable performance, however, Datadog is sure to lead the way in the upcoming market recovery.